The six new fledglings are a sorry bunch.This morning in the cold light of day, I gave them the once over.
Admittedly they are the "runts" that had been sidelined in an intensive farming enterprise but I was not quite prepared to see how sad and depressed these little ones were.
Two of the birds seem to be weak and lame, one has a deformed beak and another looks incredibly hunched, so after giving them a quick physical check I left them in the semi gloom of a spare hen house, with food, water ( with a little antibiotic in it) and warming sawdust
We will give them some space, peace and TLC and will see if they will survive.
I understand why intensive practices in farming occur, but like most people I dont really have the inclination or the opportunity to see what actually goes on behind those closed doors......today I have had a tiniest glimpse of how these little scraps of animals have been treated.
I agree, it is indeed a crime when any animal in any circumstance is treated poorly. I do hope these fledglings will be okay.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me the difference in hens!
My daughter rescued some battery hens last year which were in a terrible weak state, they are (except one, sadly) all now fat happy & healthy. xxx
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, people will still thoughtlessly drive their little cars to Tesco et al, and be pleased to find £2 chickens to buy.
ReplyDeleteNx
Decades ago my brother rescued a chicken that fell off one of those terrible factory trucks crammed with birds. He named her Lucky Linda, and she made quite a nice pet.
ReplyDeleteA person really wants to hate this practice, but I can understand it. I think the gent giving you the battered hens might have been an appeasement for his mind. (an offering to the gods, so to speak) If he were as cold as we would think, he would have just had them slaughtered so they didn't waste any more food. Things go wrong with all the creatures, at one time or another.
ReplyDeleteIf I don't make sense - I just woke up......
The last couple of days I have been searching for a farm in Nova Scotia that sells Free Range chicken.There are a few and we will support them. Thanks for the nudge, John.
ReplyDeleteThere is no excuse for not treating animals humanely. It is easy to close your mind and "forget" where the food you are eating is coming from. I'm guilty of it myself. Thanks for the wake up.
ReplyDeleteYou know how I feel about that.
ReplyDeleteThe battered hens I got several weeks ago are now thriving, even started laying eggs.
Poor dears. i know you can take great care of them, they have come to the right place.
Oh, those poor babies. Since you are such a good mama you will be able to get them healthy and happy. And since ( if) you are going to be eating them, well, when their time comes, you will make sure it is done with respect.
ReplyDeleteMy brother used to work at an egg farm that house about 12 million chickens. He said he'd spend about 2 hours a day, walking up to a total of 2 miles, just looking for dead hens. And if they found a rooster, they were to "humanely euthanize" it. In other words, they separated the skull from the spine with a pull on the head and feet. He brought me a rooster he smuggled out once, but after a few weeks it died. I had never seen such a big comb! It layed over and covered his eye. He said they are crammed into cages and the cages are stacked upon each other. He now drives a log truck.
ReplyDelete~Randy
It's amazing what you see in the eye of an animal, it is the window to their soul too. And you can see not what they have been thru exactly, but that they have been through something, and that is enough to know.
ReplyDeleteOh, so good to see you've rescued some battery hens (well, fledglings)!! I have plans to do the same thing. There is sanctuary for battery hens in Ontario:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cobblehillsfarmsanctuary.com/
I don't eat much meat these days, but when I do, I make sure it's from happy animals. Living in farm country makes it easier for us to know where our meat is coming from. And of course we get our eggs from arguably the most spoiled hens in the world (papaya is their new fav treat!)
Very sad stuff. That's why we started raising our own meat.
ReplyDelete